The Hindu Business Line : Corporation Bank may waive Rs 275 cr under debt relief scheme

Mr B. Sambamurthy, Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank (left), interacting with the staff members at the Mukka branch in Dakshina Kannada.

A.J. Vinayak

Mangalore, June 8 Corporation Bank, which has begun work on debt relief and waiver to farmers as per the scheme announced by the Union Government, is likely to waive around Rs 275 crore under the scheme.

Mr B. Sambamurthy, Chairman and Managing Director of the Corporation Bank, told Business Line that a majority of farmers from Karnataka will get the benefit of this scheme.

Asked about the number of beneficiaries under the scheme, he said a total of 1.20 lakh farmers are eligible for the scheme on all-India basis. Of this, Karnataka has the major share with 71,000 farmers.

The agriculture lending portfolio of the bank is at around Rs 3,200 crore. Around Rs 275 crore will be waived under the scheme.

SELF-EXECUTING

“This is a self-executing scheme,” said Mr Sambamurthy when this correspondent met him at Mukka rural branch in Mangalore taluk of Dakshina Kannada district. Self-executing means there is no need for the farmers to make an application for loan waiver. If loans meet the criteria fixed by the Union Government, then the beneficiary will get the benefit.

Mr Ravindranath Nayak, Mukka branch manager, said that the bank staff members apprise the beneficiaries of the scheme, whenever they visit the branch for details. There is no need for the farmer to do anything. Already they are receiving queries about the waiver, he said.

In Mukka branch, around 40 farmers are eligible for this loan waiver scheme and debt to the tune of around Rs 14 lakh will be waived off.

Mr Sambamurthy said that 100 per cent CBS (core banking solution) coverage of the bank has helped in speedy preparation of the list of beneficiaries. The list contains all the details of beneficiaries. Only overdue of the eligible beneficiary has to be filled in there.

ON AIR

Along with displaying the scheme guidelines at the branches of the bank in vernacular languages, the bank has initiated other measures such as publishing frequently asked questions (FAQs) in vernacular dailies and broadcasting programmes on loan waiver through All India Radio (AIR). Farmers will be involved in the programmes to be broadcast on radio.

Stating that there will be some queries from farmers on the scheme, he said the above-mentioned measures would help in clearing the doubts of farmers.

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